Interviews were conducted with twenty-eight male and female inmates housed in Canadian maximum and medium security prisons to determine their sports backgrounds and values and the role of sports in their prison lives. As youngsters, the large majority of the subjects interviewed had participated in organized competitive sports. Sport value problems associated with competition and aggression appeared to be intensified among inmates, especially for the males. Sports did however appear to play a vital role in the process of coping with prison time. The similarities between prisoners forced to deal with their imprisonment and "ordinary" people forced to cope with life, time, frustration, loss, and failure, suggest directions for further research and research utilization. (Author/MJB)